Grill Bill: Samuel's speed, power rankings & Armah's outfit

Answering this week's burning – and not-so-burning – questions.

Email from Bradlee: With the Kelvin Benajmin trade, which rookie will be MORE IMPORTANT to the overall offensive success? Continued usage of Christian McCaffrey or Curtis Samuel’s ability to spread the field?

The continued expansion of McCaffrey’s role is obviously a vital part of the Panthers’ future. So is the wait for the big play(s). But it’s not like he’s wasting away. The rookie leads the NFC in receptions and is the only player in the NFL this season with at least 150 rushing yards (183) and 50 catches (54).

Because we’ve seen signs of what McCaffrey can and can’t do for the offense in the first nine weeks, I’ll go with Samuel. We still don’t know how his speed can truly affect a defense. But there were some hints Sunday. Including here:

Notice Samuel sprinting past the safety?

Sure, Cam Newton didn’t launch the ball downfield, but other teams are watching. And what they’ll see is a guy they’ll have to plan for even if he hasn’t yet hauled in a deep ball.

Was the revamped rushing effort more because of the trade of Benjamin, or just more of a focus of getting @run__cmc the ball?

But as far as your first point, watch what the safety does before the snap here:

And here:

And here:

That’s not something the Panthers saw much of when Benjamin was on the field, and it sure gives them a better chance to run the ball if defenses aren’t stuffing the box like they were.

Email from Greg:James Bradberry tends to shadow a specific receiver throughout games, whereas Josh Norman typically stayed to one side or the other. Is that a product of Steve Wilks' new defense, Bradberry having a different skill set than Norman or the coaching staff simply having more confidence in JB than they ever had in Norman?

Think you’re misremembering a bit, Greg. They did use Norman to shadow, especially in 2015.

Like with Norman, though, they’re not sticking Bradberry on a No. 1 wideout every single game. And like with Norman, they've done it against guys like Atlanta’s Julio Jones and Tampa Bay's Mike Evans.

Norman has better ball skills; Bradberry has better speed, but same number, similar strategy.

Email from Diarmuid:We're clearly blitzing more than ever this year, and while that's led to better D in terms of yardage and points allowed, why is the number of interceptions so much lower than (and I hate to say it as much as you hate to hear it) the '15 season? Is it that pressure ensures QBs release quicker leading to shorter completions or just better QB play from the opposition or just a case of bad luck? Seems counterintuitive that more pressure corresponds to fewer interceptions.

I love this topic because it’s one with so many layers and possibilities. So my short answer would be all of the above.

One other potential reason you didn’t mention was how they’re playing more man-to-man under Wilks. What that does is ask corners to cover with their backs turned, limiting their ball-hawking chances. That may not be the biggest factor in the pick decrease, but it probably belongs on the list of things you mentioned.

Can we see the offense and defense play a full 60 minutes with a lead? Way too conservative yet again in the 4th quarter

“As coaches we got a little greedy at the end,” Ron Rivera said afterward. “I know Coach Steve Wilks was being very aggressive in trying to slow it down. But I will say this, he is going to stick to his guns and I’m proud of the job they did.”

And as far as the offense goes, look what happened to Samuel on the third down before the final punt:

When do you think Armah will get some snaps geared around him carrying/catching the ball?